SF Ballet Returns to Paris for the First Time in a Decade With Over 15 Works and Numerous Parisian Premieres

SAN FRANCISCO, Thursday, May 30, 2013: San Francisco Ballet, the oldest professional ballet company in America, has announced that it will perform in Paris at the Les Etés de la Danse Festival from 8-26 July 2014. The festival, an annual event that presents world-class classical and contemporary dance, will be held at the Théâtre du Châtelet. Over 17 performances, SF Ballet will present over 15 works by a range of choreographers including George Balanchine, Wayne McGregor, SF Ballet Choreographer in Residence Yuri Possokhov, Alexei Ratmansky, Jerome Robbins, SF Ballet Artistic Director & Principal Choreographer Helgi Tomasson, and Christopher Wheeldon, among others. SF Ballet last performed in Paris during the inaugural festival in 2005.

“We are thrilled to be returning to Paris in July 2014 with a diverse repertory of classical and contemporary works, many of them Parisian premieres, that will showcase the breadth and depth of the Company’s talent,” remarked SF Ballet Artistic Director & Principal Choreographer Helgi Tomasson. “We’re also happy to return to the Les Etés de la Danse Festival for the first time since its inaugural season ten years ago.”

As they become available, Paris tour updates will be posted at sfballet.org/tickets/ontour.

Les Etés de la DanseLes Etés de la Danse is an annual dance festival that began in July 2005 with an extremely well received engagement of San Francisco Ballet. Addressing the lack of major performing arts presentations during the summer in Paris, the festival brings the world’s greatest companies to enthusiastic audiences in the city that many consider the European capital of dance. Madame Jacques Chirac, former First Lady of France, is the honorary president of the festival; Marina de Brantes, a leader of numerous artistic and humanitarian organizations, is the president of a prestigious board composed of a number of prominent cultural, social, business, and political figures. Valery Colin, a former dancer with the Paris Opera Ballet, is the festival’s founder and director.Thousands of people from all over the world attend each summer’s festival of Les Etés de la Danse to see performances, films, open classes, exhibitions, and educational programs.

San Francisco BalletAs America’s oldest professional ballet company, San Francisco Ballet has enjoyed a long and rich tradition of artistic “firsts” since its founding in 1933, including performing the first American productions of Swan Lake and Nutcracker, as well as the first 20th-century American Coppélia. San Francisco Ballet is one of the three largest ballet companies in the United States. Guided in its early years by American dance pioneers and brothers Lew, Willam and Harold Christensen, San Francisco Ballet currently presents more than 100 performances annually, both locally and internationally. Under the direction of Helgi Tomasson for more than two decades, the Company has achieved an international reputation as one of the preeminent ballet companies in the world. In 2005, San Francisco Ballet won the prestigious Laurence Olivier Award in the category of “Outstanding Achievement in Dance” and in 2006, it was the first non-European company elected “Company of the Year” in Dance Europe magazine’s annual readers’ poll. In 2008, the Company marked its 75th anniversary with a host of initiatives including an ambitious New Works Festival. Recent highlights include a tour to the People’s Republic of China, the celebration of Artistic Director & Principal Choreographer Helgi Tomasson’s 25th anniversary with the Company, and the United States premiere of John Neumeier’s The Little Mermaid, which was broadcast internationally, as well as nationally on PBS’s Great Performances “Dance in America” in December 2011. In 2012, SF Ballet’s ambitious tour schedule included first time visits to Hamburg, Moscow, and Sun Valley, Idaho. In October 2013, the Company will return to New York City to present a variety of mixed-bill programs, as well as the New York premiere of Christopher Wheeldon’s highly acclaimed Cinderella. For more information, visit sfballet.org.

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